Darren Burke

It was the day the music died - and ten years ago today, Sheffield's legendary Gatecrasher nightclub was destroyed by fire.

It was on the evening of June 18, 2007 that flames tore through the much-loved Matilda Street club, reducing it to a charred shell and leaving scores of clubbers in tears as it was later demolished and reduced to rubble.

The club, whose official name was Gatecrasher One, was situated in a converted warehouse and owned by the Gatecrasher dance music brand.

Older clubbers will know it better as The Republic, but it took on its new name in 2003 after a £1.5 million refurbishment.

Sadly, just four years later, all that hard work would account for nothing as the building was totally destroyed by fire.

Two people were believed to be inside the building when the blaze took hold - supposedly inside the DJ box - but escaped the premises unharmed after calling 999.

Fire destroys the Gatecrasher building in June 2007.

The Arundel Street end of the two-storey building later collapsed, narrowly missing firefighters.

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said five crews - about 25 firefighters - were at the scene tackling the blaze at its height.

A number of roads around the area, including Arundel Street, Matilda Street, Sydney Street, Cumberland Street and Furnival Road, were closed by police as crews tackled the blaze at the former warehouse, which was nearly 100 years old.

The public were warned to keep windows and doors closed due to the fumes given off by the blaze and a huge plume of smoke could be seen for miles around over the city centre.

The site of the club is now student apartments.

Crowds gathered to watch as the fire took hold of the building - and wept as the building was reduced to ashes.

After the fire a single bunch of flowers was left on the fence with a note that read "The music, the lights, the spirit of the people. We will always remember you"

Gatecrasher One started life as the Roper and Wreaks works, constructed around 1910 and the brick built warehouse remained an industrial building until 1986.

In 1991 a planning application to convert the building into offices was submitted but the plans were never carried out and it eventually opened as a club in December 1995.

The fire cast a huge plume of smoke across the city centre.

The club was initially a financial failure but in 1996, Gatecrasher started to use the building for Saturday night events, initially as a few one off events,before eventually becoming Gatecrasher's permanent home.

The site has now been redeveloped into student accommodation, opening in 2016. The site's heritage can still be seen in various areas, not least of all the name of the £11m building - "Gatecrasher Apartments" - with its logo representing a vinyl record. Elsewhere the theme continues with a garden feature in the courtyard in the shape of a record turntable and the four wings of the building named after musical terms - Opus, Mezzo, Vivo and Accent.

Dozens of firefighters tackled the blaze.

Upset fans paid their own tributes after the blaze.

The aftermath of the devastating blaze.

The former factory was totally gutted and declared structurally unsafe.